


when the weather outside is frightful (but the fire is so delightful)

by regrowing_a_heart



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Character Study, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Multi, Snow, i guess, riku-centric, so fluffy it'll give you cavities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 11:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5625124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regrowing_a_heart/pseuds/regrowing_a_heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riku had never really been a morning person.</p>
<p>Wait, scratch that. </p>
<p>Neither he, nor Kairi, and especially not Sora, had ever been morning people. </p>
<p>Living on a tropical island that always seemed to be just the right temperature, so that staying in bed felt like the best thing that could be done in any situation, (bar the apocalypse), had destroyed any chance the three of them had at being morning people. </p>
<p>Which is why he was so shocked to randomly wake up early and find a glaring absence in their bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when the weather outside is frightful (but the fire is so delightful)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [talisea](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=talisea).



The three of them had been training at Yen Sid’s tower for around two months, as a unit. Kairi and Riku had been training with Lea separately for a month before that, but after Sora returned from the Realm of Sleep, they had all started to train together. Lea trained with them, when he felt like it. He had his own list of important things that he needed to do. Or so he said. Riku couldn’t see why that involved accidentally setting the tower kitchen on fire (twice) but he wasn’t going to pry. Lea probably had a lot on his mind.

They’d all settled into this routine. It was…nice. It offered Riku some comfort- comfort he desperately needed after years of being on the run, living in darkness, and especially after the Mark of Mastery gone wrong. That had raised a lot of unanswered questions that still lingered in the back of his mind; questions Riku wasn’t even sure he wanted to know the answers to.  
But… being with Kairi and Sora, having them there, knowing that they loved him in every sense of the word?  
That made those questions seem a lot less pressing.

Kairi and Sora had been unwaveringly supportive toward Riku after the events in the World that Never Was. That in itself was unsurprising. They were the most compassionate and caring people Riku had ever known. The fact that those caring hugs and things that could still be considered under the banner of friend slowly morphed into something else?  
Well, that was surprising. 

(Later, when he confessed this to them, sitting on the Paopu tree one evening, they both laughed. “We’d all been in love for _ages_!” Kairi had said, bright smile on her face as there always seemed to be nowadays. “Well, I’d known that, at least. You two were oblivious!” She’d laughed even harder at how Sora’s own laugh had turned into a splutter of protest, and at the blush that had spread itself across Riku’s cheeks.)

Then, after that, they’d been called back to train. To be ready for the war that they couldn’t seem to stop. Yen Sid had asked for only Sora and Riku, not even acknowledging Kairi’s existence, in the letter that they’d received almost immediately after King Mickey’s. Sora had fumed when he read it, and had grabbed paper and a pen to start writing a rather angry response in his unintelligible scrawl. He’d gotten a few lines written when Kairi had put a hand on his shoulder, and shaken her head.

“Sora, don’t.”

“Why not, Kairi?! You deserve to be trained just as much as Riku and I do! You have a Keyblade! You’re a freaking Princess of Light-”

“Of Heart, Sora.” Riku had quietly corrected from his chair across the room.

Sora wasn’t swayed by the interjection. “-and, like, super powerful to boot! You need to be trained!”

“If they don’t want me there, I won’t go. It’s as simple as that.”

Sora had continued to protest, but Kairi had shot him down at every turn. Eventually, she managed to convince him not to write the letter. Mostly by initiating a make out session that was _extremely_ hot, gathering Riku to her side as well - “It was an unfair advantage. You know I can’t resist the both of you at once!” - but nevertheless, it was effective in calming Sora down and persuading him not to write the strongly worded letter he’d been intending to.

Later, when Sora was asleep, Riku had asked Kairi why she’d stopped Sora. She’d rolled over in bed to meet his gaze. Her eyes were dark, and serious, and she had spoken with uncharacteristic sharpness.

“Let them keep underestimating me. Let them keep on assuming I’m nothing more than your motivation. It will just be that much more satisfying when I show everyone what I can do.”  
It was moments like that, which reminded Riku why he loved her.

Riku lay, content in his reverie, gazing at the ceiling of his, Sora, and Kairi’s shared room. The bed was soft underneath him, the sheets a comfortable pressure on top of him, and the heat of both Kairi, curled against his side, and….wait. Where was Sora? He was usually flopped on top of them all, but his weight and heat were absent from their morning cuddle pile.

Worry coursed through Riku. Sora was never up this early in the morning. His absense could only, his panicked and half-asleep mind reasoned, mean something terrible had happened. Was it Xehanort? Had he come back into their lives to try and spirit Sora away to darkness again? Or maybe it was something even worse than that-no. Riku stopped himself from falling down that route with all his willpower, because he would not let those thoughts enter his mind. He would not.

And then, suddenly, the end of the bed dipped down with a slight squeak. In his peripheral vision, Riku could see a vaguely defined dark shape. It edged closer, quietly, looking as if it was trying not to move the bed (it squeaked even louder, sometimes, if you sat on a couple of certain points).

“Guys?” The shape asked, in Sora’s voice. Riku exhaled.

“I’m awake.”  
Sora’s face now moved fully into Riku’s field of vision. He was grinning, that unmistakable Sora grin that made you want to smile back, no matter if you were in a horrible mood or not. Infectious.

“Good mor-ning!” Sora sing-songed (and he was far, far too perky for being awake so early - wait, what time was it?).

“What time is it?” Riku asked, voice thick with sleep.

“It is, uh, seven am. Roughly.”

“Fuck, Sora.” Riku groaned.

Sora grinned impishly. “We can later, if you want.”

“Mmmph. Later. Come back to be-ed.” A more awake Riku would have blushed at that, but seven-am Riku just wrapped his arms clumsily around Sora’s midsection and attempted to pull him down on top of him. Seven-am Riku, however, was not nearly as strong as more-awake Riku, so this action achieved basically nothing.

Sora leaned down anyway, and gently kissed Riku’s nose. “I can’t. I have something to show you!”

“What?”

“You have to come to the window! The both of you!”

“Kairi’s not even awake yet.”

“Well, wake her up! It’s important! You’ll like it, I promise!”

“Muh. No.”

Sora pulled the pillow out from underneath Riku’s head, which prompted a string of curses from the elder boy. Then, still holding the pillow, he leapt off the bed and yanked off the duvet that Riku and Kairi had swaddled themselves in. The sudden influx of cold air caused Riku to bolt upright and yell out a string of curses. Kairi joined in with the string of curses, somehow even more colourfully, as she jumped upright like she’d been electrically shocked.

“SORA!” they yelled in unison, full of the rage that only those who have been unjustly ripped from the sweet embrace of sleep (or half-sleep, in Riku’s case) could summon.  
Sora cackled loudly. He buried his face in the pillow in an unsuccessful attempt to muffle his laughter. The rooms in Yen Sid’s tower were soundproof, but old habits died hard.

Kairi grabbed her pillow from the bed. “I am going to _kill_ you!”

She scrambled ungracefully across the bed towards Sora, practically brimming with anger. Riku received the honour of having his chest walked across, which made him squeak like a dog toy. Kairi paid no attention to his pained noise, and instead proceeded to leap off the bed and brutally smack Sora over the head with the pillow. He went down almost immediately- that keyblade training was really starting to pay off, Kairi was like a fucking Large Body in terms of strength- but attempted to block her attracts with his own pillow. Kairi was relentless, though; her smacks were of such great strength that, even though they weren’t of the same speed of Sora’s, she managed to be a fairly equal match for him. Riku lay back and watched them, laughing like he hadn’t in so long. Real laughter.

“C'mon, back me up here, Riku!” Kairi yelled. Riku didn’t need to be told twice, and scrabbled to try and find the third pillow (which had somehow been pushed to the end of the bed and squashed nearly in half). He seized it, and leapt off the bed to hit Sora firmly in the back, just as Kairi hit him in the front. The combined force knocked him to the ground, and he put his hands up in the air, flailing them around in a pathetic attempt to try and guard any more attacks.  
“I surrender! I surrender!”

“Yessss!” Kairi reached out to hi-five Riku, who returned the gesture.

“Okay,” Sora took several deep gasps of air, trying to get his breath back “but, really, can I show you what I wanted to show you? Please? I promise you’ll like it!”

“Hmmm. Shall we forgive him, Riku?” A smile played across Kairi’s lips as she made eye contact with Riku, who shrugged, but smirked.

“Okay, you are duly forgiven.” Kairi reached down and helped Sora yank himself upright. He dramatically brushed his pyjamas off with his hands.

“This had better be good, Sora.” Riku placed his pillow back on the bed and folded his arms across his chest, giving Sora a mock-stern look.

“It will, I promise!” Sora grabbed Kairi’s free hand (the one that wasn’t holding a pillow) and gently tugged Riku’s hands from their crossed positions to grab his hand as well. He dragged them both towards the small window in their room, then let go of their hands to open the curtains with a flourish. “Tah-dah!”

Riku blinked. “What the hell is that?”

“Snow!” Sora said, smiling proudly.

“Snow?” Kairi asked. She cocked her head to one side, trying to see more outside the window.

“Snow!” Sora gestured wildly outside. He was practically vibrating with excitement.

“I’ve never…seen it before.” Kairi reached out her hand to touch the glass, eyes now wide in wonder.

“I didn’t actually think it existed.” They both gave Riku a look. “What? I’d never seen it, the only things that told me it was real were TV shows and books, and I’d always thought that those were stupid. Forgive me for being ignorant, but we did live on a tropical island.”

“Riku, did you never pay attention in Geography lessons? Honestly.” Kairi shook her head.

“Let’s face it, I never really cared about school when I was younger.”

Sora grinned. “No, because you were too busy ogling the both of us.”

Riku spluttered, and a blush began to spread itself across his cheeks.

“It’s okay, we were ogling you too.” Kairi smirked at him, and slipped her hand into Riku’s. Sora did the same, and smiled sunnily at him.

Riku blushed even more. Light, he was a mess. How did they manage to do this to him?

“Well, guys? Don’t you want to go and enjoy your Christmas present?”

“Wait, it’s Christmas?” Riku felt a jolt of panic go through him. Shit.

“Yes.” Kairi gave him a look.

“I, uh, forgot.”  Riku dropped his gaze to the floor, guiltily. “I haven’t gotten you anything, I’m really sorry I’ve just been so wrapped up, with training and everything, I’m the worst-“

Kairi covered Riku’s mouth with her free hand, shaking her head. “Shh, shh. No more words. We won’t let you keep putting yourself down.”

“You just being with us is the best gift we could ask for. Actually, all of us being together is the best gift.” Sora added, squeezing Riku’s hand and letting his smile become a gentle, tender one.

“Sora, only you could come up with something as cheesy as that.” Kairi rolled her eyes.

“Ah, but you love me for it.” Sora waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Kairi giggled.

“Light help me, I do.” She leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. The two of them held themselves there for a moment, then parted. Their smiles never left their faces.

Kairi dropped her hand from Riku’s mouth. “See? It’s okay. We really don’t mind that you forgot it was Christmas.”

She stood up on her toes and kissed Riku on one cheek. Sora did the same, jumping a little in order to reach him.  
Riku allowed himself to smile at them. “Thank you. Really.”  
“No problem! Now…can we please go out into the snow? I have a lot of things planned for us today, and I don’t want to waste any time!” Sora bounced up and down, barely containing his excitement.

“Lead the way.” Riku said.

Sora ran in front of Riku and Kairi, Riku’s hand still clutched in his, and his in turn clutched in Kairi’s, pulling them towards the bedroom door. “I can’t wait to show you guys all the fantastic things you can do with snow!”  
Kairi and Riku shared knowing smiles as Sora chattered away excitedly. They knew that he would be at his most hyperactive and excitable today, but they also knew that they wouldn’t change any of it for the worlds.  
Not one thing.

**Author's Note:**

> written for tumblr user talisea for the 2015 khsecretsanta, and originally posted December 25th, 2015. there was so much i wanted to do with this and didn't have time to, so i may continue it at some point. i actually really like this - i don't write fluff a lot, but this turned out surprisingly well. 
> 
> these three are my ot3 (THEY'RE TOO PRECIOUS HELP) and i hope i did them justice.


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